Chiefs trade back into NFL Draft, select Tulane corner ‘BoPete’ Keyes in 7th round
The Chiefs had a specific target in mind and moved back into the seventh round to get him, sending a 2021 sixth-round pick to the Tennessee Titans.
With the Titans’ original 237th overall pick as Saturday’s final picks of the 2020 NFL Draft were winding down, the Chiefs selected Tulane cornerback Thakarius “BoPete” Keyes.
The 6-foot-1, 202-pound Keyes took up football late in high school before coming into his own at Tulane, where he moved into the starting lineup during his junior season in 2018. He finished his senior season by garnering an honorable mention All-American Athletic Conference selection after recording 47 tackles, an interception and five pass breakups.
The Chiefs added a cornerback who should fit well in defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s scheme.
“I see myself as a press-man corner, Keyes said. “But can play off and play zone at any different times, I feel.”
Chiefs area scout Willie Davis believes Keyes will have a role on defense and special teams while developing as a pro.
“With his skill-set and the way we play our defense, I think later on in the season he’ll be able to contribute, even if it’s on special teams starting out,” Davis said. “He wants to come up in defensive support in the run game and I think that’s going to help him early on running down on special teams.”
The Chiefs bolstered their defensive backfield with two players on the final day of the draft: Keyes and L’Jarius Sneed.
Sneed, though, didn’t have to sweat it out as the Chiefs’ fourth-round pick. Keyes, who felt confident entering the 2020 NFL Draft, endured a nervous time when the seventh round began.
But all the anxiety left when the telephone call came and he knew the Chiefs, a team Keyes said he spent a lot of time interacting with during the pre-draft process, moved back into the draft to select him.
“I had a feeling the Chiefs would potentially draft me,” Keyes said. “And it really hit me when I got the call.”
For the Chiefs, the decision to re-enter the fray and select a player they coveted proved easy as the draft came close to its conclusion.
“We weren’t getting this kid in free agency,” Davis said emphatically. “It was going to be a bidding war, it was going to be a high bidding war for this kid in free agency. So, to jump back in the seventh round and get him like that, that was big for us because there were teams that were going to come after this kid.”
CHIEFS’ DRAFT PICKS
Round 1, 32nd overall: RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire
Round 2, 63rd overall: LB Willie Gay Jr., Mississippi State
Round 3, 96th overall: OL Lucas Niang, TCU
Round 4, 138th overall: DB L’Jarius Sneed, Louisiana Tech
Round 5, 177th overall: DE Michael Danna, Michigan
Round 7, 237th overall: CB Thakarius “BoPete” Keyes, Tulane
